this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2025
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Erythritol, a widely used sugar substitute found in many low-carb and sugar-free products, may not be as harmless as once believed. New research from the University of Colorado Boulder reveals that even small amounts of erythritol can harm brain blood vessel cells, promoting constriction, clotting, and inflammation—all of which may raise the risk of stroke.

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[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 19 hours ago

to all of you who worry about this stuff: do you drive? do you walk or live next to roads? do you make sure there's a low concentration of CO2 in any room you're in?

If not, those things are way more worrisome than any sweetener unless you chug 50 liters of soda per day.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 128 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The authors caution that their study was a laboratory study, conducted on cells, and larger studies in people are needed.

Ok, nice to know, moving on.

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[–] venusaur@lemmy.world 98 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Why not just say, “Popular sugar substitute, erythritol…” in the title?

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 72 points 1 week ago

I mean we both know the answer is for clicks

[–] yarr@feddit.nl 61 points 1 week ago

Add the fucking shit to the headline: Spoiler: it's Erythritol

[–] Bubbey@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I always told my buddy who was dieting in college that getting fake sugar sodas isn't the solution, it's to stop drinking soda...

[–] cheese_greater@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Not even that, find something healthy that scratches the itch. Your body indicates it wants energy (unless your addicted in which case its the microbiome or something), get it some berries or throw them in some water with lemon juice

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I've found that a lot of times when I'm craving something sweet, what I actually want is water. It seems my brain associates sweetness (such as from fruit) with hydration. When I can, I'll have some fruit. But when fruit's unavailable, I know I just have to drink more water.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 28 points 1 week ago (3 children)

So what brand is this stuff sold under so that I can speedrun that stroke?

[–] FilthyHands@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In America, it's usually branded as "sugar alcohol", and is found in many sweeteners as an additive.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

Don't the food labels go into any more detail than that?

image

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Here in Denmark I've seen nearly every sugar free ice-cream use it. There's also a number of chewing gums too.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 27 points 1 week ago

Maybe the ultimate answer will turn out to be JUST EAT LESS FUCKING SUGAR.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

What even uses this stuff? I only see Acesulfam-k, Sucralose, Stevia.

Edit: i'm european.

[–] frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Brand names in the US are Swerve and Truvía. I don't think it gets added to much in junk food factories, but it is available in packets for tea and such.

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Here in Denmark I've seen that substance used in gum and sugar free ice-cream.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

Lot of things. Here in Spain I have a big box of sweetener little packages that have "STEVIA" la el big but it's 96% eritriol and only 3% stevia.

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[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago

erythritol was always a not so favored ingredient for me due to the weird cooling mouthfeel and GI effects

now if it turns out that allulose is bad for you, I'm going to be SO UPSET.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

God damn it, I've been using this a lot. It's almost flavorless except sweet and doesn't take much to sweeten a large amount of water. I've been using the Truvia packets one in a large bottle of water with 1/8 of a teaspoon of crystalized lime or orange ( from a brewer supply co). All the other ones seem to have a chemical aftertaste to me.

Oh well, the second best time to stop is now I suppose.

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[–] etherphon@piefed.world 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I fucking knew it, this shit made me feel weird all the time.

[–] bytesonbike@discuss.online 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

If you can, avoid any fake sugar. I love science, but science sugar tricking your brain that something is sweet feels wrong.

Or not. I'm not a nutritionist I don't know anything about anything.

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Actually you could be a nutritionist if you call yourself one since it's not a legally protected term. Dietitian is the actual one that is a protected term.

[–] bytesonbike@discuss.online 3 points 1 week ago

Ah great then hell yeah Im a nutritionist I learnt food brain stuff.

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[–] chunes@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Erythritol makes my entire mouth feel like it's on fire as soon as it touches my tongue. My body did me a favor on this one.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

you seem sensitive, ive taken stevia subistitute with erythiol, it never caused it. some people have gi problems with it, but it doesnt really bother me for tha tone. there are products with pure stevia in it(but warning pure is not as sweet as the substitutes though, so you might have to use more.

[–] Tuxman@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Meh…. It’s a research from the US. Let’s wait till more reputable sources confirm the studies.

[–] Jhex@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

fair, but more reputable countries may not have exposed their populations to this poison to begin with

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Damn it it's in Celsius. Glad I don't drink it often.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This seems interesting because they did some research in the actual mechanism that could create a cause-effect relation. Still need to be repeated to justify legal changes but that's a good start.

Much better than these "correlation" studies that say nothing. Like the ones saying "people who doesn't drink any alcohol die sooner that people who drink a cup of wine each day", that's totally faulty for a lot of evident reasons. And until now most artificial sweeteners studies were like that "people who use artificial sweeteners tend to have more health issues", like with the drink is reasonable to assume and consider that people who do such dietary changes is more likely to already have an underlying health issue that they are trying to cope with and it's obviously more in risk that healthy people that doesn't feel the need to control their diet.

As I said this study seems a little more promising as they did research on the actual mechanisms on which the health issues may happen. I hope it gets repeated enough times and, if needed, the product would be banned or properly labeled.

[–] Nightsoul@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Just another thing to check labels for, none of the drinks I have contain it which is good

[–] timewarp@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Interesting thing about most sugar substitutes is they actually kill mouth & gut microbiome.

[–] testfactor@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago

That seems like an impressively blanket statement when there's literally dozens of sugar substitutes that are all wildly chemically different. Insane that all of them would kill your mouth and gut microbiome even when they often work in fundamentally different ways.

[–] LowtierComputer@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Any evidence for this in Stevia or Monk Fruit?

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

here's a pretty good meta-analysis I found of various studies of stevia affecting bacteria in vitro and in vivo

the conclusion this paper comes to seems to be "depends on the species and strain of bacteria"

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

so just like pretty much anything you eat then.

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[–] Fetus@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I also don't have any studies, but I am aware of xylitol being used in toothpaste, chewing gum, etc., usually with the "assists in the prevention of tooth decay" type of tagline.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Xylitol is different from erythritol, but both are "sugar alcohols" so further study would be needed

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[–] Geodad@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Erithrol is the sweetener derived from monkfruit.

[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I did a couple searches and I didn't see that mentioned. In my searches I read that monk fruit so like 250x sweeter than sugar, so erythritol is used as a "bulking agent" for monk fruit. So I guess they use it to dilute monk fruit and make it more manageable? Idk, I've been consuming both for quite a while and this is news to me, going to have to learn more about both.

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago

ethrythiol is often mixed with these two, but there are product with solely stevia in it if your interested.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 1 week ago

No. I don't have any studies on hand, but the data that I'm aware of says that stevia is one of the small few that actually helps your gut biome. However, too high of a quantity can lead to other issues (I think related to the heart).

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Stevia is often blended with it but only lists in the ingredients.

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago (4 children)

it's also often blended with dextrose which is SUPER annoying if you're trying to do specialized baking or diets

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[–] k0e3@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

I thought xylitol was good for gut biome

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[–] scytale@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago (10 children)

Well shit I use it daily for my coffee and home-made milk tea. Reading all this stuff coming to light about sugar substitutes is gonna make me just go back to regular sugar or maybe coconut sugar, and I’ll just control my intake.

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